Bottle carrier



Patented Feb. 12, 1952 BOTTLE CARRIER Marvin E. Palmquist and Edward W. Lundstrom,

Rockford, Ill., assignors to Andrew F. Wintercorn, Rockford, Ill.

Application October 8, 1948, Serial No. 53,422

6 Claims. (Cl. 224-48) This invention relates to bottle carriers of the type commonly used for carrying soft drink bottles.

Many designs and constructions have been proposed for such carriers, but most of them have been too complicated and expensive, and certain ones were moreover subject to the criticism that they prevented easy stacking of filled carriers in displays on the store oors, or would not nest properly for convenient shipping of empty carriers in quantities from the place of manufacture. We have, therefore, aimed in thegpresent invention to avoid these principal `objections and to provide a carrier of simple construction which can be produced at low cost but is nevertheless of good quality and durability.

The carrier of our invention, as will soon appear, has less parts than most other carriers at present available but these parts are combined in a novel way to afford many advantages not ob tained with the other more .complicated and more expensive carriers, such as:

(l) The feature of the handle attached toggle links flexing the side walls of the carrier body in wardly to hug the bottles tightly together both in carrying and when the carriers are .stacked in displays;

(2) The feature of the handle attached links flexing the side walls of the carrier body outwardly to free the bottles when the carrier is placed on the iloor or table or other support for easy removal (and as easy replacement) of the bottles- (3) The feature that the handle bail is swingable to a horizontal position relative to the carrier body to permit automatic machine loading of bottles in carriers at the bottling plant, and

(4)`vv The feature that the empty carriers nest easily, the sheet metal bodies thereof being all slightly larger at the top than at the bottom, to

nt one inside another, and the handle bails being so designed and attached as not to interfere with such nesting,

Referring to the drawing, illustrating the invention:

Fig. 1 is an end View, full size, of our improved bottle carrier, showing the handle bail and the toggle links thereto attached in full lines in an intermediate position, as when thel carrierhas been placed on the :door or other support for removal of bottles, the carrier body in this situation having its side walls spread apart as .appears in full lines to make removal or replacement Of bottles easier, and the dotted line positions of the toggle links showing the two extremes to which they may be moved by the handle bail, as for carrying and for stacking, .the inwardly v:flexed 2 I condition of the side walls of the carrier in those extremes whereby 'to hug'the bottles-being also indicated in dotted lines; Y

Fig. 2 is a side view of the carrier on a smaller scale, and

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are sectional details on the correspondingly numbered lines of Fig. 1.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in these ve views. i

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral t designates the one-piece U-shaped sheet much metal base or carrier bodywhich provides a bot- A 4 tom l and opposed side Walls 8 and 9 that are flexible relative to the bottom 1 at the lateral edges I0 thereof to `give the bottle huggingactiondepicted in dotted lines, in Fig. l, that being a very important feature of our invention, The flexing is so slight that no danger of fatigue in the metal arises. The ends of the bottom 'l are bent upwardly to vdefine bottle confining and bottom reinforcing and stiifening flanges I I, the raw` edges of which are folded over inwardly as shown at I2 to present rounded edges on the flanges as at I3. In like manner, the side walls 8 and 9 have the vends bent inwardly to dene flanges Ill the raw edges of which are folded over inwardly as at I5 to present rounded edges I6. The top edges of the side walls 8 and 9 are also folded over inwardly, as at I1, to present rounded edges on the top of 'the carrier, as at I8. A pair of at sheet metal toggle links I9 and 20 is provided on each end of the carrier, pivotally connected at their outer ends, as at ZI, to the upper ends of flanges I4, and pivotally connected together at their overlapping inner ends andV to the inner sides of the flattened ends 22 of the arms of theinverted U-shaped wire handle bail 23, as at 24. Tubular rivets are shown at 2| and 24 entered with a free working t in registering holes in the parts to be pivotally connected, the inner protruding ends of these vrivets being upset. The anges II and I4 are bevelled ci at their adjoining ends and spaced, as at 25, so as not to come into abutment and interfere with the free flexing of the side walls 8 and 9 relative to bottom l. Upwardly and outwardly extending ribs 26 are preferably struck inwardly at the opposite sides of the bottom l to lend stiffness to the side walls 8 and 9 relative to the bottom l, so that they will stand erect when not flexed inwardly, the flexing inwardly being, of course, opposed by these ribs. These ribs 26, as shown in Fig.v 2, are located between the places where the bottles rest on the bottom, so that there is no likelihood of any interference with the bottles.

In conclusion, it should be clear from they above that we have provided a very economical and yet thoroughly practical and serviceable design of bottle carrier. The side walls 8 and 9 afford ample space on which to display advertising matter pertinent to the soft drink or drinks in the bottles 26 carried in the carrier. There is obviously nothing at all complicated about the construction of the carrier body or base 6, all of the details thereof being such as can be taken care of in large quantities at low cost. The riveting of the toggle links to the carrier body and to the handle bail also is a simple low cost operation. Fewer parts for a complete carrier are scarcely conceivable and yet this simple device offers all of the advantages mentioned above, namely:

(1) The side walls 8 and 9 hug the bottles 26 when the handle 23 is raised to carry the carrier, the toggle links I 9 and 20 causing inward flexing of the side walls, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, thus avoiding the noisy clinking together of bottles previously commonly associated with the carrying thereof;

(2) The same thing occurs when the handle 23 is depressed to bring its upper end down to or below the plane of the tops of bottles 2S, when the lled carriers are to be stacked in displays on the store floor, at which time it is no less important to have the bottles held in as rigid relationship to one another as possible to reduce likelihood of a display toppling over;

(3) The side walls are spread apart easily by moving the handle 23 to the intermediate position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, so that bottles can be taken out and replaced easily, and

(4) With the links in that position the handle 23 can be swung to the left or right, as indicated by arrow 21, to a horizontal out of the way position, to permit automatic machine loading of bottles in carriers at the bottling plant.

In addition to the above features, it is also noteworthy that the present carrier, by reason of its being slightly larger in length and width at the top than at the bottom, when the links I9-2 are horizontally disposed, can be nested easily for convenience in packing and shipping, as well as in other handling, the handle bails 23 being so designed and attached on the outer sides of said links so as not to interfere with such nesting.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of our invention. The appended claims have been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

We claim:

1. A bottle carrier comprising a one-piece sheet metal base of rectangular form providing an imperforate and substantially rigid bottle supporting bottom portion and having opposed upwardly bent parallel side portions for disposition alongside the bottles standing on the bottom portion, said side portions being flexible relative to the rigid bottom portion along the lines of said bends and disposed close enough to the bottles so that the upper portions of said side portions are arranged to engage the outer sides of the bottles tocrowd the bottles together tightly when said side portions are flexed inwardly toward each other, a single pair of toggle links horizontally disposed in a line across each end of the base at the top thereof to retain bottles standing on the bottom portion against displacement from the ends of the base, each pair of links being pivotally connected at their outer ends to the tops of the side portions and being pivotally connected together at their inner ends, whereby said links serve to ilex said side portions inwardly relative to the rigid bottom portion when their inner ends are pulled up or pushed down, and a handle bail pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the pivotally connected inner ends of said links.

2. A bottle carrier as set forth in claim 1 including flanges bent inwardly from and extending substantially the full height of the ends of the side portions of said base for reinforcement thereof, the pivotal connections of said toggle links to said side portions being on the upper ends of said anges.

3. A bottle carrier comprising a one-piece sheet metal base of rectangular form providing a bottle supporting bottom portion and having opposed upwardly bent parallel side portions for disposition alongside the bottles standing on the bottom portion, said side portions being flexible relative to the bottom portion along the lines of said bends and disposed close enough to the bottles to crowd the bottles together tightly when exed inwardly toward each other, a pair of toggle links horizontally disposed in a line across each end of the base at the top thereof to retain bottles standing on the bottom portion against displacement from the ends of the base, each pair of links being pivotally connected at their outer ends to the tops of the side portions and pivotally connected together at their inner ends1 whereby said links serve to flex said side portions inwardly when their inner ends are pulled up or pushed down, and a handle bail connected at its opposite ends to the inner ends of said links, there being reinforcing flanges bent inwardly from the ends of said side portions and upwardly from the ends of said bottom portion, and the edge portions of said flanges being folded over inwardly to add further reinforcement and also conceal the raw edges and present rounded edges on said flanges, the pivots for the outer ends of said links being on said anges bent inwardly from the ends of said side portions, the adjoining ends of the flanges on the side portions and bottom portion being spaced so as not to interfere with free flexing of the side portions relative to the bottom portion along the lines of the bends.

4. A bottle carrier comprising a one-piece sheet metal base of rectangular form providing a bottle supporting bottom portion and having opposed upwardly bent paralle1 side portions for disposition alongside the bottles standing on the bottom portion, said side portions being flexible relative to the bottom portion along the lines of said bends and disposed close enough to the bottles to crowd the bottles together tightlywhen said side portions are iiexed inwardly toward each other, a single pair of toggle links horizontally disposed in a line across each end of the base at the top thereof to retain bottles standing on the bottom portion against displacement from the ends of the base, each pair of links being pivotally connected at their outer ends to the tops of the side portions and pivotally connected tobottom portion for reinforcement thereof and to further retain against displacement the bottles standing on the bottom portion, the adjoining ends of the anges on the side portions and bottom portion being spaced so as not to interfere with free flexing of the side portions relative to the bottom portion along the lines of the bends.

5. A bottle carrier comprising a one-piece sheet metal base of rectangular form providing a bottle supporting bottom portion and having opposed upwardly bent parallel side portions for disposition alongside the bottles standing on the bottom portion, said side portions being flexible relative to the bottom portion along the lines of said bends and disposed close enough to the bottles to crowd the bottles together tightly when said side portions are exed inwardly toward each other, a single pair of toggle links horizontally disposed in a line across each end of the base at the top thereof to retain bottles standing on the bottom portion against displacement from the ends of the base, each pair of links being pivotally connected at their outer ends to the tops of the side portions and pivotally connected together at their inner ends, whereby said links serve to ilex said side portions inwardly when their inner ends are pulled up or pushed down, a handle bail pivotally connected at its opposite ends to the pivotally connected inner ends oi said links, stiffening ribs formed from the sheet metal of the base at the junctions of the bottom portion and side portions and extending upwardly and outwardly from the Ibottom to the side portions tending to hold said side portions erect and resisting flexing inwardly and outwardly of said side portions with respect to the bottom along the lines of said bends.

6. A bottle carrier comprising a one-piece sheet metal base of rectangular form providing a bottle supporting bottom portion and having opposed upwardly bent parallel side portions for disposition alongside the bottles standing on the bottom portion, said side portions being exible relative to the bottom portion along the lines of said bends and disposed close enough to the bottles to crowd the bottles together tightly when said side portions are iiexed inwardly toward each other, a single pair of toggle links horizontally disposed in a line across each end of the base at the top thereof to retain bottles standing on the bottom portion against displacement from' the ends of the base, each pair of links being pivotally connected at their outer ends tothe tops of the side portions and pivotally connected together at their inner ends, whereby said links serve to flex said side portions inwardly when their inner ends are pulled up or pushed down, a handle bail pivotally connected at its opposite ,A ends to the pivotally connected inner ends of said links, stiiening ribs formed from the sheet metal of the base at the junction of the bottom portion and side portions and extending upwardly and outwardly from the bottom to the side portions tending to hold said side portions erect and resisting flexing inwardly and outwardly of said side portions with respect to the bottom along the lines of said bends, said stiffening ribs being spaced so as not to interfere with the placing of the bottles on the bottom.

MARVIN E. PALMQUIST.

EDWARD W. LUNDSTROM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,098,797 Hehr June 2, 1914 2,171,615 Wesselman Sept. 5, 1939 2,339,278 Lyons Jan. 18, 1944 2,368,203 Crane Jan. 30, 1945 2,404,532 Rocker July 23, 1946 2,432,351 Strobl Dec. 9, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 241,443 Great Britain Oct. 22, 1925 

